By Illinois Radio Network

TAYLORVILLE – U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis said President Donald Trump must talk about federal spending reductions, including cuts to Medicaid.

Davis said Trump has to take on federal entitlements if the country is ever going to control the federal budget.The president’s budget proposal includes a plan to trim Medicaid by $600 billion over the next decade.

“We could shut the government down tomorrow, and still the Department of the Treasury would, by law, have to print money for 66 percent of the federal budget,” Davis said. “And that’s growing.”

Veronique de Rugy, an economist at the Mercatus Center, said Davis is right. The federal government has to reign in spending.

“Congress and the president have no choice but to cut spending. Our country is $20 trillion in debt and it is scheduled to explode due to demographics,” de Rugy said. “High levels of debt and deficits mean higher taxes, lower economic growth in the name of transferring massive amounts of wealth from the relatively young and poor Americans to the relatively old and sick ones.”

But Davis said these cuts are better than the status quo.

“You know what’s really cruel? An unsustainable national debt of $20 trillion that’s going to be passed on to the next generation,” Davis said. “It’s the same type of debt that was passed on to my generation by leaders in Washington.”

As for Trump’s proposed wall along the southern border with Mexico, Davis said Congress will certainly want to talk about border security but not necessarily a wall.